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Islamabad High Court judges Justice Babar Sattar (left) and Justice Sardar Ejaz. — IHC Website/File
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ISLAMABAD: Two Islamabad High Court (IHC) Judges – Justice Babar Sattar and Justice Sardar Ejaz – have written a letter to Chief Justice Sardar Mohammad Sarfraz Dogar, expressing concerns over judicial irregularities.
IHC Chief Justice Dougar chaired a full court meeting in which all judges of the High Court attended. The agenda of the meeting included service rules, processes and procedures, family judges’ powers, and issues related to the construction of the High Court.
Prior to the meeting, both IHC judges tried additional points to include the meeting’s agenda, while highlighting the case allocation of the case, administrative decisions and transparency within the court.
Justice Sattar’s four -page letter, a copy of which is available for Geo.TV, is the question whether IHC judges today believe that they are fulfilling their constitutional responsibilities and whether citizens consider them to be the protector of basic rights.
“Did the IHC try to establish the district judiciary as an independent institution? There is a lack of transparency in the preparation of rosters and the preparation of cases. We tell the daily officers in our decisions that they are neither king nor their powers.”
Judges express concern that senior judges are being neglected while additional judges are assigned cases. “Using administrative powers, the judges and the chief justice should remember that they are not king but government officials?” He asks.
The letter also criticized the office’s refusal to issue a list of cases in some cases, noting that it was affecting the independence of the judiciary.
Highlighting these examples where the roster has deprived him and other judges of the only benches, and it has been observed that senior judges have been excluded from the management committee in violation of the rules, while additional and transfer judges have also been added.
Another concern has been raised for judges to get a nauseous certificate (NOCS) for travel abroad.
The letter states that “the construction of institutions takes decades, but it takes no time to destroy them.”
Meanwhile, Justice Ejaz’s letter appeared just hours before the IHC’s full judicial meeting. In the letter, Justice Ejaz emphasized that additional points should be included in the agenda of the meeting.
He noted that the gazette of the practice and procedure rules has already been issued, but just a day and a half before the meeting, the judges were circulated for their impression. He wrote that the judges should have been given a presentation to adopt the rules of the Lahore High Court.
Justice Ejaz expressed concern that it was presented that the full judicial meeting was merely called as a formal status. The letter states, “In this situation, I will not be able to give meaningful feedback about the rules of practice and procedures.”
The judge also questioned why the gazette of practice and procedures was issued without the approval of the full court. He emphasized that all measures taken under the rules without such approval could be considered illegal.
Raising more issues, Justice Ejaz said that the removal of most senior judges from the management committee should also be included in the agenda. He called for a discussion on the need to get the judges a certificate (NOC) before traveling abroad.
The letter states that “this law does not allow judges to leave judges from traveling abroad without the NOC by the Chief Justice.” “Will it now depend on the Chief Justice whether a judge spends his holidays in Pakistan or abroad?” He described the need for NOC as a serious violation of the fundamental right of judges’ journey.
The letter also recommends that the agenda should cover the transfer of cases to various benches as the master of the roster by the Chief Justice, as well as orders approved regarding the constitution of the benches.
Copies of these letters were circulated to all the IHC and the Registrar’s judges, ensuring that these issues would be addressed during a full court meeting chaired by Chief Justice Dogar.
